


You Can Tell Me

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Sad, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 17:40:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8587762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Very loosely on season 6, episode 17 of Full House. "Harry and Louis have to help their oldest daughter when she finds out someone she knows is being abused by their father."





	

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning for child abuse & child death. im sorry.

"I am not exaggerating!" Grace exclaimed in a, well, exaggeration manner while she looked up towards her father. "Dad, nobody in school can stand this kid, James, he's so obnoxious," she stated, swinging her hands dramatically in a circle.

Harry couldn't help but give his daughter a warning, but amused look. "Grace Styles-Tomlinson, don't talk like that," he scolded, bouncing his other baby, Charlie, in his lap. "Everyone had a good side. No matter how young, no one can be that bad. Be nice to him no matter what, maybe it'll rub off."

It was the only thing that Grace has been talking about since arriving home from school. Apparently, her fourth grade teacher had started a project with the class involving two students pairing up and getting to know each other well. Grace was so incredibly sweet to everyone, and Harry knew that she had meant no harm in her words, but he still had to do his best to lead her onto the right track of how to treat other people, no matter how horrible.

But Harry could see from the doubtful expression on Grace's face that what he was saying was not having any effect on her opinion towards the boy that she was claiming happened to be obnoxious and rude. For help, he turned to his husband Louis with a desperate look. He had to have some expierence with people who were like Grace's description of the boy she was paired with. Louis, though, wasn't going to be much help. He gave Harry a short wince from where he was playing a board game with their middle child, Brandi, on the floor of the room.

Louis tried to think of the right thing to say. But everything that he thought of seemed like it wasn't possibly going to help her in any way. "Just do what Dad says, Gracie," he said in encouragment while moving his game piece. "Be nice to him."

The door bell suddenly rang then, making Grace jump. She groaned and stood up before starting towards it. "Battle stations!" She exclaimed. With her hand on the knob, she looked over her shoulder to see Harry giving her the same warning parent look that he always did so well. "Okay, I'll be nice." Sucking in a dep breath, Grace opened the front door to reveal a boy around her age with sandy blonde hair and bored blue eyes whom was tightly holding onto his backpack. "Hi there, James," she greeted politely. "Nice to see you!"

The young boy, James, rolled his eyes at the polite tone. "Wished I felt the same," he retorted, stepping inside when Grace let him in.

Grace looked over his shoulder to give both of her fathers' an "I told you so!" look. At Louis' shake of his head, Grace knew it meant to not comment on his attitude and continuing her hardest to be nice. "Guys, this is James," she introduced.

"Can we just do this stupid assignment?" James asked carelessly, not even bothering to give the family even a smile.

With a tight smile, Grace led him upstairs to her room. "I can hardly wait," she mumbled, following him up the stairs and showing him hers and Brandi's bedroom.

The bedroom was any typical little girls' bedroom, with a lot of pink and purple. James snorted at that and turned to look at her. "Who's room is this? The Princess Pride?" He joked, acting cute and even poking at his dimple with a smile.

Glaring at him, Grace grabbed her bag. "Let's just do the assignment," she said, trying to stay calm and nice like her fathers' said to do. She plopped on her bed and James sat on the large beanbag across from her. "Okay, so what did you do today?" She asked first, flipping open her school notebook and grabbing a pen.

Thinking, James tilted his head before replying. "Well.. I didn't put bubblegun in anyone's chair," he stated.

Grace was just about to lose it and drop the kind act to reply with a sarcastic comment, but didn't get a chance as Brandi let herself in the room and threw herself on the colorful bed right beside her older sister. "Oh, Grace!" She sang.

"Hey, look, it's half a person!" James spoke, making fun of Brandi's height, pointing at her.

Brandi gave him a scowl. "You have a bad attitude," she retorted angrily. It's not the first joke she's heard about her height, anyways, so she soon lost her train of thought and stared back at Grace with a wide and teasing smile.

"What is it, Brandi?" Grace asked, more annoyed with her sister now than James. "We're both trying to do our homework."

"You are in big trouble with Dad," Brandi announced, referring to Harry. "Big, big, big, big, trouble! You forgot to take out the garbage again!" She teased. She knew perfectly well how much Harry loved keeping the house clean and spotless, along with his daughters' help. Standing up, Brandi walked back towards the doorway. "Dad said that he'll deal with you later! Just thought that you'd like to know!" She finally said before leaving.

Wincing, Grace shook her head and groaned. "That's twice this week!" She exclaimed, not even realizing that she was ranting to someone she didn't particullary like. "Dude, my dad is so gonna flip out on me later!" She knew that, probably, once James would leave then the disappointment and hands-on-the-hips father position would start.

"I guess that you're really in for it now, huh?" James questioned. Grace didn't notice how much more nervous that he seemed now, and not rude like he's been being and only nodded back. "Well.. Like, try to think of something funny," he suggested. "That's what I always do when my dad is pounding me."

"Pounding?" Grace repeated in confusion. "You mean hitting? My dad never hits me," she said, staring right at James and watching as his expression quickly moved to scared in an instant, like he said something wrong. "Does yours ever hit you?" She then asked, her voice growing soft almost like she already knew the answer.

Quickly, James shook his head. "No, just forget about it," he replied simply, flipping through his notebook nervously. "I didn't mean anything by it, okay, let's do the assignment," he tried insisting. He didn't even see the way that Grace was looking at him; worried and almost desperately wanting to know what he was talking about.

"You can trust me, I swear," Grace insisted. She didn't care at all about their project now, because there was something more serious that was now going on.

Sighing, James looked down to avoid the others' eyes. He was mad at himself for letting something from his life, such a big secret, slip. He felt like he let his father down. "Look," he whispered quietly, almost like he was in far of either of Grace's fathers come up the stairs and hear him. "My dad does hit me sometimes, but it's my own fault for ticking him off.." He trailed off, thinking for a second before choking up a quiet laugh. "Boy, did he really club on me last week," he admitted.

Thinking back to it, Grace remembered. "You mean when you walked into a door and came to school with a black eye?" She asked. There was a day last week when James had come in with a large, black circle around his left eye. When questioned about it, he had insisted that he had run into a door at home and everything was fine. From James shrug, it was clear that nothing was fine. "Maybe you should tell someone," she said softly.

Instantly, James shot up from his seat. "No, no!" He exclaimed. "I can't tell anyone and neither can you," he said strictly. The another thought had seemed to hit him. "Wait. What time is it?" He asked, turning to look at the clock in Grace's room. He saw it was a little passed four and started freaking out. "Crap! I forgot to phone my dad and tell him I'm gonna be late," he said, rushing to stuff his school supplies back in his bag. "He's gonna kill me! I gotta go, I gotta go!" He exclaimed, more panic as he zipped up his bag and started rushing out of the room.

But he stopped suddenly when Grace jumped off the bed and stood in front of him. "But - wait, James," she said almost desperately. She wanted to go onto a bigger speech, say how he should seriously tell someone, but the words seemed to be lost in her throat so James spoke instead.

"You have to swear to me, Grace. You won't tell anyone as long as you live. Ever. Okay? Swear it."

After a moment of thinking about it, Grace eventually nodded back, feeling somewhat sick. "Okay," she finally caved, stepping aside. "I swear."

-x-

Grace was the last one to walk to walk into class, but she luckily wasn't late as the bell was just starting to ring. She tightly clutched the straps on her backpack when seeing that James wasn't in the room, thinking back to the discussion they had yesterday. "Miss?" She spoke quietly, stepping up to her teacher's desk. "Where is James?"

The teacher looked up, meeting Grace's worried green eyes. "Oh, Grace," she spoke. "James is going to be out all week. He had an accident," she answered. It was quiet, but not quiet enough for the rest of the class to hear.

"He is an accident!" One girl in the front seat called out, suddenly making the class erupt into a fit of hushed giggles.

Whirling around, Grace glared at the other students. "Hey, cut it out!" She exclaimed defensively. "That is not funny!"

Not expecting the sudden outburst, the girl squinted at Grace. "Whatever, don't have a freak attack," she retorted.

"Hey, that's enough!" The teacher announced strictly. "Take your seats, please." She pulled out her attendance book, assuming that was the end of the conversation about James between the class but one girl stepped forward at her desk.

"What kind of accident did James have?" Grace asked softly, worry coursing through her.

Being a teacher, she couldn't give away much information about a hurt kid so she only told Grace what she could. "Oh, his father said he fell down the stairs," she explained, completely clueless to what Grace knew about James and his father. All the color drained from Grace's face and she shrunk back from her strong stand in fear. "What is it, Grace?" The teacher asked curiously, assuming that Grace's expression meant she had something important to tell her.

Of course, Grace did have something important to tell her. She wanted to whisper it, to tell her so desperately, but the words were lost in her throat. She was scared. She made a promise to James, didn't she have to keep it? "Uhm.." Grace started, but slowly shook her head, changing her mind at the last second. "Nothing. It's nothing."

-x-

"Brandi Lee Styles-Tomlinson did you get three time-outs in school today?" Was the first thing Louis asked when his daughter walked through the door. He didn't notice how Grace raced up the stairs without greeting him, because most of his focus was on the middle child for now. He had gotten a call from her teacher and apparently, Brandi had gotten three time-outs in Kindergarten after arguing and refusing to share with other students, and for ignoring the work she was given.

Pouting, Brandi dropped her bag and kicked off her school. "I'm really sorry, Pa," she tried, assuming he wanted an apology. "I'll be better tomorrow," she promised, before pushing past him and starting to race off to the kitchen for a snack like she always does after school.

"Hold it!" Louis exclaimed, turning around. He watched in amusement as Brandi still continued towards the kitchen door, but more slowly this time. "I mean, come back here please," he said, kneeling down to be eye-level with her as she moped back to her father. "Sometimes saying "I'm sorry" is not enough," he explained. "Every night this week, I want you to go to bed an hour earlier because you need to think about what you did wrong today," he instructed.

Brandi gave him her best puppy blue eyes and glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's not fair!" She protested in a whine.

But Louis didn't cave in, as he shook his head. "I think it is fair," he replied. "Now go on, upstairs," he said, nudging her to follow Grace. "Pronto."

Stomping away, Brandi pouted with her head hung low. "I can't do what I want, Pa is so mean, I can't do anything here..." Were a few of the things she mumbled under her breath before bursting into her room with Grace. "I am never talking to Pa again, he's such a meanie!" She exclaimed in an announcement as she threw her body on her bed.

Lifting her head, Grace narrowed her eyes at her younger sisters words. "Hey, don't you say that!" She hollered in warning. She wasn't so sure why she was so angry and suddenly defensive over what Brandi had to say about their father, but couldn't help it. "I'm telling you, don't you ever call dad names like that!" She insisted.

Already upset, Brandi was even more as she thought Grace was trying to boss her around. "You can't tell me what to do!" She shot back.

Standing from her own bed and now in front of her, Grace put her hands on her hips. "Yes I can, I'm your big sister," she retorted.

Looking her up and down, Brandi rolled her eyes. "You're not that big," she said, almost teasingly but only infuriating her sister even more.

"I'm bigger than you!" Grace yelled back, this time louder than before. It was from all the pent up stress from the terrible thing James admitted, so now she's picking a small fight with her younger sister. Mostly because she insulted their father over something dumb.

In each others faces, both sisters shouted; "So?!" Again and again until finally Harry came in, stopping at the doorway. "Hey, hey, hey!" He called out until the girls stopped. "Gracie, Brandi, what's going on?" He asked.

"Brandi is calling Pa mean things!" Grace shouted, whirling around and pointing at her sister, nearly in tears.

"He punished me!" Brandi cut in, just as dramatic, but without the tears.

Smiling, Harry shook his head and leaned against the doorway of the girls' room. "Hey, now Brandi, Louis is being very fair. He punished you by going to bed early only because you did wrong, okay?" He assured her gently.

Finallyy satisfied, Brandi nodded. "Okay, you're right," she admitted. Being a child, she would obviously get frusterated with her parents for being punished but would eventually get over it. "I'm going to do my homework," she decided, slipping off the bed and trudging towards the exit of the room. Harry lifted his long left leg, letting her step underneath it before leaving without another word.

But Grace wasn't done. She still had to get a lot out right now, and couldn't hold back. "Big deal, she has to go to bed early! Doesn't she know how lucky we both are?! Some kids get punished a lot worse than that!" She shouted in anger.

A bit stunned, Harry uncrossed his arms and stared at his daughter, wondering where that outburst came from. To swoop in and save the day, the one who Grace was closest to stepped in the room with the small baby, Charlie, on his hip. "The yelling woke Charlie up, is everything okay?" He asked, bouncing Charlie to keep him calm.

"No!" Grace cried out, sitting down at the table the two girls' had in their room and shoving her head in her arms.

Louis and Harry's heart hurt at the sight. Frowning, Louis handed his husband Charlie. "Love, why don't you put him back to sleep and I'll talk to her?" He suggested quietly.

Nodding, Harry leaned over to kiss Louis' cheek before leaving the room while quietly cooing to Charlie lovingly. Louis went over and sat on the other seat at the other end of the table before carefully reaching out and touching Grace's arm. "Is there something you need to talk about, Grace?" He asked, as gently and softly as he could. When she didn't say a word or make a move, he spoke again. "I can't hear you unless you speak up."

Grace lifted her head and set it on her chin before nodding. "I do but.. I promised that I wouldn't tell," she replied. "You and Dad taught me to never break a promise," she pointed out.

In understanding, Louis nodded back. "Well, that is a good rule. But there are exceptions to that rule. For instance, if something is seriously bugging you and it's something that we can fix, then you should speak up," he explained. "You're smart, Grace. Use your common sense. Can we fix this?" He said, almost seriously. Whatever was wrong with her, it was just enough to make her fight with her sister, so it had to have been serious.

Slowly believing and understanding Louis, Grace bit her lower lip. "If I tell you, can we just keep it between us?" She questioned.

Wincing, Louis shrugged. There were many things that Grace could tell him and he might have to speak about it. "I can't promise that unless I know what the problem is," he finally replied, seemingly fair enough.

But Grace was just so desperate to get the problem off her shoulders that she spoke up. "Do you remember James?" At Louis' short nod, she continued. "His father hits him, bad," she whispered. "He really hurts him, Pa. He told me about it. He wasn't in school today, and the teacher said he had a bad accident," she ranted.

Louis' eyes widened and his heart almost plummeted in his chest. He felt suddenly terrible, and almost pity for such an innocent kid who he barely know. He knew he told Grace that he might not have to tell, but this was serious. Shaking his head, he stood up from the chair. "I got to report this right now," he started, heat and anger building up inside him.

"What? Why?" Grace asked, standing up quickly and following him out of the room.

"Because if I don't, I'll go straighten up his father myself!" Louis suddenly shouted, not even meaning to become so loud and accidentally making Grace flinch. He didn't mean to, the outburst just came out without his control. He sucked in a deep breath before kneeling down and gently laying a hand on his daughters' shoulder. "Listen sweetheart," he started more quietly than before. "I know that you want to keep the promise, but if you know that this is happening and you don't say anything about it then you're only helping it happen again," he warned, carefully using the right words.

It took a quiet minute, but Grace took a deep breath before nodding. Louis could see the tears springing in her eyes, and it broke his heart. "What will happen to James if we report it?" She whimpered, wiping at her eyes.

Louis reached up and gently cupped her trembling face. He tilted his head and looked deep into his daughters' eyes to try and help her understand better. "What will happen to James if we don't?"

-x-

"It's been a week!" Was the first thing Grace exclaimed sadly when walking through the door right after her walk home from school. "And he's still not at school!" She stopped for a second and looked at her shuffling feet as she walked to the couch where her fathers were sitting down silently and watching her scene unfold. "I'm worried about him."

Obviously, Louis told Harry everything. After talking to Grace, Louis called social services right away and reported what he was told. After a week, and a few more calls about it, he was finally told what had happened. He just wasn't so sure how his daughter was going to take the awful news. Harry looked away as Louis stepped off the couch to kneel in front of her. "Gracie, we need to talk to you about James," he said quietly.

Grace could hear how quiet and serious Louis was, which was very unusual. Whatever it was, he was serious and something was clearly wrong. "What is it?" She asked, her breath hitching in her throat as she started shaking when Louis' blue eyes filled up with tears. "Pa, what is it?"

"James won't be back at school," Louis finally spoke sadly, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry, Grace. The stairs.. That he was pushed down.. There were to many. James passed away in the hospital a few nights ago," he whispered.

It was like every wall around Grace was suddenly crashing down. There was a deep mellow feeling inside her and it burned so much. She felt like she couldn't breathe. "H-He's dead?" She whispered, in such a quiet and hushed voice Louis could barely hear her. "Pa, Dad," she sobbed, not able to form any correct words. Without another second, she let out another cry before letting herself fall into Louis' arms and bury her face into his neck. Harry had shook his head, biting on his lower lip to stop his own tears as he embraced Grace from behind.

There was a sudden quiet wailing from upstairs interuppted their moment, a sign that baby Charlie was awake and hungry. "I love you, Grace. I'm so sorry," Harry whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of her head in a sign of comfort for standing up and rushing up stairs.

"Daddy, Papa!" Brandi shouted in excitement as she raced through the front door. "I got a hundred on my test and - " She suddenly stopped, her hand that was holding a piece of paper dropped when seeing her big sister crying into an embrace with Louis. "Gracie, are you okay?" She asked, sticking her lower lip out sadly as she stepped to them.

"No," Grace choked out. She pulled away from the hug and wiped away the tears while taking a deep breath. It was hard to believe that the boy who she thought was so obnoxious and rude was now gone, because his father hurt him. Brandi forgot all about the test that she did well on and gently hugged her sister, burying her face into the others' chest.

"Here, sit down," Louis said gently. Both girls sat down, holding onto each other still. Louis sat beside them and wrapped an arm around Grace just as Harry walked down the stairs, holding Charlie with a bottle in the babies mouth. He saw how close the family was now, sitting together, and squeezed himself next to his husband.

Grace accepted the loving sign of comfort Louis was giving her and buried herself into his side. "What made his father so mean?" She whispered, almost curiously.

Louis rested his chin on the top of Grace's head. "I don't know," he answered honestly, looking at his perfect family, all squeezed together on the living room couch. It was perfect. Harry looked back at him, a small smile on his face to try and lighten the mood. It was too dark to do so anyways. "I look at you, I look at Brandi, I look at Charlie and I think.. How can anyone hurt their child?"

**Author's Note:**

> if you or someone you know is being abused by a parent or anyone else, please speak up or reach out. just because it isn't "bad enough" doesn't mean it won't get worse. what will happen if you don't?


End file.
